Sloe Times

For not being much of a football watcher I think I've turned into a heck of a fantasy football player. Early on in the season I was saddled with a retarded draft (mostly because I didn't understand how the Yahoo! auto-draft really worked) and then an evil amount of injuries. Checking out the wayback machine, my team looked like this:

Starting Lineup -
S. McNair (Ten - QB)
S. Moss (NYJ - WR)
An. Johnson (Hou - WR)
C. Rogers (Det - WR)
M. Williams (Min - RB) [Traded Steven Jackson to cover for Bennett]
W. Dunn (Atl - RB) [Traded Reggie Wayne for a starting RB]
L. Smith (Phi - TE)
M. Andersen (Min - K) [A 'lucky' waiver pickup after losing Nedney]
Jacksonville (Jac - DEF)

The Bench -
J. Delhomme (Car - QB)
A. Boldin (Ari - WR) [Injured]
W. Green (Cle - RB)
S. Morris (Mia - RB) [Picked up off waivers, dropped Calico]
M. Bennett (Min - RB) [Injured]
G. Jones (Jac - RB)
B. Franks (GB - TE)
P. Dawson (Cle - K)
Pittsburgh (Pit - DEF)

At the midway point in the season, things looked pretty bleak, I was 0-7 with only 7 weeks left to play. However, I had also been watching the waivers, watching the players, and reading all the free advise I could find. I finally was able to field a real team on week #8 and thus began the winning streak and there's a real possibility that I could win out the rest of my games with a little luck at this point. Game #14 pits me against Manning and many of the IND recieving corps, that will be tough. But just to record the change my team went through, here it is today:

Starting Lineup:
D. Brees (SD - QB)
K. McCardell (SD - WR)
An. Johnson (Hou - WR)
J. Morton (KC - WR)
M. Pittman (TB - RB)
D. BlaylockP (KC - RB)
J. Witten (Dal - TE)
N. Kaeding (SD - K)
Arizona (Ari - DEF)

Bench:
D. Carr (Hou - QB)
J. Gaffney (Hou - WR)
S. Moss (NYJ - WR)
A. Boldin (Ari - WR)
L. Evans (Buf - WR)
O. Smith (Min - RB)
W. Dunn (Atl - RB)
M. Bennett (Min - RB)
A. Smith (Ten - RB)

Here's to winning out. :) Now, here's my 5 lessons learned from this year.

1. Don't give too much weight to someones kooky scheme for drafting the 'hidden' talent.
   
2. Do your research, there's plenty of free, good, advise for fantasy players out there, use it. If you really want to spend a few bucks, there's a number of services that that will help you understand individual player values that can impact your draft. (I'll probably do this for next year)
   
3. If possible, get into a live draft to give yourself more opportunities to adjust your drafting to catch key players. If you're in an auto-draft situation, you're probably better off not messing with the priority order very much.
   
4. Do your research. Read up on player performance and keep an eye out for injuries. Watch the waiver wire like a hawk. Identifying trends and picking up rising talent or replacement talent for injured super-stars is the best way to fill gaps and improve your team.
   
5. Pay attention to your matchups. A middling player can shine when up against teams that are weak against that player or position. Shuffling players around to take advantage of these matchups can garner those extra few points that can really come in handy in close contests.